


The Night They Stopped Being Friends

by seulbci



Category: Saint Seiya, 聖闘士星矢: 冥王神話 | Saint Seiya: The Lost Canvas
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, thirsty Albafica
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-27 14:49:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18195671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seulbci/pseuds/seulbci
Summary: Deathmask and Aphrodite ran out of patience seeing Manigoldo and Albafica not making any move even though they're clearly attracted to each other.





	The Night They Stopped Being Friends

Manigoldo froze at the spot when, still from a good distance, he recognised Albafica standing next to Deathmask’s car, talking to Aphrodite. He turned around to face Deathmask who was walking behind him, panic clearly shown in his eyes.

“You didn’t say he’s coming with us!”

“Oh, didn’t I?” Deathmask lifted one eyebrow.

“I thought you said we’re going with Aspros and Defteros to their lodge.”

“No, I asked whether you wanted to spend the weekend _at_ their lodge. Didn’t say nothing about them coming along.” Deathmask began walking again towards his car, but Manigoldo blocked his path.

“What are you planning to do? You know I have a huge crush on him!”

“I do, but he doesn’t,” Deathmask shrugged, and pushed Manigoldo aside. “Come on now, coward. It might be the chance you’ve been waiting for. Just act normal.” Manigoldo tried to protest again, but nothing came out of his mouth. He could only follow Deathmask approaching the two other men.

“Hello, pretties!” Deathmask drew their attention outloud, and with one swift, well-trained swoop brought Aphrodite into his arms and started kissing him deeply.

Albafica and Manigoldo just looked at each other awkwardly.

“Um, hello.” Manigoldo lifted one hand in an uncomfortable greeting. “Didn’t know you’re coming.”

“Well, I don’t have anything to do this weekend anyway,” Albafica’s answer made him sound indifferent.

With a giggle, Aphrodite freed himself from Deathmask’s embrace. “Glad you can come! The more the merrier! Come on now, we’ve got to leave before it gets dark.”

Deathmask led them getting into his car. He naturally took the driver’s seat, while Aphrodite claimed the other front seat in a manner that said it was reserved for him only. Albafica and Manigoldo took the back seat, sitting closer to the window next to each than to each other. Deathmask started the car, and soon it could be seen running on the road leading to the mountains near their town. Along the trip, Deathmask and Aphrodite were chirping to each other, laughing at things they found amusing but seemed to mean almost nothing to the two men sitting at the back in silence.

Albafica stole a glance at Manigoldo, who was looking at trees and buildings whizzing past outside the window, and thought whether this weekend plan was really a good idea.

It all started last week, when he and Aphrodite were out drinking in a bar that they often frequented. All of a sudden, Aphrodite asked him:

“So, how far is your progress with Manigoldo?”

Albafica was hesitant before answering. “Er, I stayed at his place two days ago.”

Aphrodite’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “And then? And then?”

“We played video games like, two-thirds of the night...”

“Aaaand..?”

“We... went to sleep.”

Aphrodite let out a gigantic sigh of disappointment and disbelief. “That’s it? _THAT’S IT?_ ”

“What to do?” Albafica looked defensive. “We’re... we’re friends.”

“So were Deathmask and I, for like two weeks, before he asked me whether I was interested in his dick and I said yes.”

“H-he asked you that?”

Aphrodite rolled his eyes. “Not quite like that, but you know what I mean. Come on, Albafica, you’ve been crushing on him for months now, and I can see that he’s eyeing you too. Goddamnit, I can see it from across the room—he’s just so bad at hiding it. And yet all the two of you do is—playing video games? I can’t believe it.”

Albafica looked at his glass in embarrassment. “Thing is, I’m not sure what to do. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt this way.”

“You’ve never been with anyone before?”

“Oh, I have, I have,” Albafica quickly replied. “But it’s never serious. It’s always curiosity... physical attraction... never... never this feeling.” His right hand unconsciously clenched in front of his left chest.

Aphrodite laughed. “Look at you, Albafica, you’re in _love_ , and you can’t even call it what it is.”

“I don’t know,” Albafica looked at Aphrodite helplessly. “I really want to get physical with him but... it’s different than any attraction I’ve felt before. I want him to just... do small, silly things? Like... like... maybe texting me just to ask if I don’t forget my lunch. Or just having his arms around me while we watch TV. But I also really want him to be on top of me... I... I just don’t know.” He already said much more than he usually opened his mouth for, and he went on to hide his face behind his two palms.

Aphrodite smiled, half understanding, half pitying. “Hey, listen. Deathmask and I planned to spend the weekend at the twins’ mountain lodge. If we can arrange him to come along somehow, then let’s all go together. You can have some private time and space to explore your relationship. Just pretend Deathmask and I are not there.”

Albafica was not sure that it would work and that he’d be ready for it, but Aphrodite insisted. So Albafica just agreed and let Aphrodite and Deathmask take care of everything. And so here they were, the four of them, in a car running on a small road winding through a mountain forest.

Deathmask turned the car to an even smaller road, and at the end of it they saw a small, serene lake and a rustic lodge standing alone.

“The twins own this area?” Manigoldo gave his first verbal reaction since they left the town, whistling in amazement.

“Their family, to be exact. But there are other lodges owned by other people around this lake, I heard—they’re just too far away from each other. So we can relax, no-one will disturb us.” Deathmask brought the car to a complete halt on the carport next to the lodge. “Here we aaareee!”

They got off the car, and Aphrodite fished the keys of the lodge from the front pocket of Deathmask’s denim trousers. Apparently, he deliberately touched something else, because Manigoldo and Albafica could hear Deathmask yelp and shush, “ _NOT NOW!_ ” and Aphrodite giggle. Manigoldo and Albafica just looked on dumbly.

_Just pretend we are not there, he said,_ Albafica thought indignantly. _Yet it’s them who act like Manigoldo and I are not here._

While Aphrodite tried on the keys at the front door, Manigoldo bent his body into the car again to get the bags of food and drinks that they had bought on the way there. Albafica said nothing, but his eyes hungrily drank on the graceful sight of Manigoldo’s firm arse, clad in fitting denims and which his tucked-in sky blue shirt didn’t help to conceal. At the same time, Albafica shrank a little, conscious that his own arse was not as attractive as that, and he worried about what Manigoldo would think of it.

Manigoldo straightened his body again, paper bags in hands, and pushed the car door shut with one foot.

“Let’s go,” he said, and started towards the lodge, into which Aphrodite and Deathmask had disappeared. Albafica followed him, unsure whether to offer his help with the bags or not. After all, Manigoldo seemed not to face difficulty at all bringing them all.

When they entered the lodge, they could hear Aphrodite making happy comments about the bed from one of the two bedrooms. The lodge was not too big, but it had a nice porch that faced the lake, and it had a nice fireplace with a thick carpet and a big sofa in front of it. Manigoldo put the bags on the kitchen counter, as Deathmask and Aphrodite emerged from the bedroom that they had chosen.

“You two take the other room, OK,” Deathmask was basically giving him an order.

“Er...” Manigoldo looked into that other room and saw that there’s only one double bed. “Deathmask, maybe Alba...”

Albafica grabbed Manigoldo’s lower arm. “I don’t mind. I don’t mind at all.”

Manigoldo looked at him with an unreadable expression, due more to his sudden inability to move his facial muscles than him voluntarily trying to hide his feelings.

“If you say so, then.”

“Alright, that’s settled!” Aphrodite grinned as he took off his sneakers, gesturing to others to follow his lead. “Let’s go drink by the lake.”

They walked barefoot on the soft grass to the lake, each bringing a can of beer, except Deathmask, who brought two. There was no human activity on the lake, and save for the tender whisper of the wind and some chirping sounds of birds, everything was quiet. It was the beautiful, peaceful period when spring was ending and summer was nigh. Aphrodite walked into a shallow part of the lake, pulling Albafica along. “Damn cold!” Aphrodite laughed as he splashed some water on Albafica. Manigoldo and Deathmask sat themselves down near the water’s edge, opening and sipping their beer as they watched the other two men who were now standing in the water with their backs to them, whispering to each other. Aphrodite seemed to say something that made Albafica embarrassed, because Albafica was pushing Aphrodite a bit, while the latter just laughed teasingly.

Manigoldo could see that Deathmask never took his eyes off Aphrodite. His admiring gaze rested only on the Swedish man. Manigoldo himself looked away when his eyes met Albafica’s. _Maybe I am a coward_ , he thought.

After a while, Aphrodite and Albafica left the water and approached the two sitting men. Aphrodite basically threw himself to Deathmask, who was ready to welcome him into his arms. The two of them laughed heartily as they both fell to the grass. Meanwhile, Manigoldo handed Albafica, who was standing next to him, a can of beer and his handkerchief.

“Thanks.” Albafica sat next to Manigoldo and used the handkerchief to wipe his wet face.

They sat drinking and talking until the sun hung very low at the horizons, with Deathmask and Aphrodite dominating the conversation. They always had things to tell, and so often finished each other’s sentences. _What does it require to reach that level?_ Manigoldo wondered. _Maybe it’s what “made for each other” means_.

As the day grew darker, they returned to the lodge and continued talking in front of the fireplace while nibbling on the food they had brought and called it dinner. They had thrown anything that caught their interest into the basket when they stopped for food and drinks in a minimarket before they left town, so their dinner consisted of biscuits and cheese and chips and canned pineapples and sausages and many other things they didn’t even remember buying. Aspros had told Deathmask that they may finish the bottle of champagne he and Defteros left a week earlier, so they gladly helped themselves with it.

As time rolled on, it was clear that Aphrodite and Deathmask just needed some private time for themselves. After a series of long and passionate kisses and groping, Deathmask stood up and half-lifted Aphrodite to their bedroom.

“Excuse us,” he grinned at the two men they left behind as he closed the door, “you go have fun yourselves.”

The door was then shut.

Manigoldo and Albafica remained sitting on the carpet for a while, not knowing what to do. Albafica threw a glance at Manigoldo, but Manigoldo, sitting cross-legged, was looking the other way, supporting his chin with one hand. The back of Manigoldo’s neck was exposed over his collar, and Albafica felt the sudden urge to run his fingers along it. He lifted his hand—

“Well, I guess,” Manigoldo suddenly broke the silence, standing up, causing Albafica to retract his hand with lightning speed, “it’s time to turn in too. We’ll take care of the trash tomorrow.”

He walked into the bedroom he’s supposed to sleep in that night with Albafica without looking at the other man. Albafica ran after him and slammed the door behind his back. Manigoldo turned to him, surprised.

“What is it?”

Albafica was standing with his back against the door, looking angry and with glistening eyes.

“You don’t like me?”

“What? No! I mean, I don’t _dislike_ you! I mean...”

“You keep turning your eyes away from me! EVEN NOW!”

Manigoldo didn’t even realise that he was looking at a vase on the cupboard next to the door instead of Albafica. Hit with the realisation, he forced himself to look at Albafica’s face and maintained eye contact, even though he was sure his own face was all red now. Albafica, meanwhile, looked very pale.

“Why?” He asked with a hoarse voice. “Why won’t you look at me?”

“Oh, Christ, Albafica.  I swear it’s not because I don’t like you. It’s because – it’s because...” Manigoldo struggled with his words. His tongue felt heavy. Albafica’s face was only inches away from his. “It’s because you’re _too beautiful_.” He stopped talking, not sure what to say next, especially because now he saw Albafica’s shocked expression. _Oh dear,_ Manigoldo remembered too late, _he doesn’t like it if anyone talks about his face, does he..._ He was going to apologise, but Albafica had reached for his head with two hands, and locked his lips with his.

“Alba, I...” Manigoldo gasped and stumbled for words when they finally broke the kiss.

“Since when?” He could hear Albafica murmuring emotionally in his right ear.

He gathered his courage and circled his arms around Albafica’s slim hips. “I’m... I’m not sure. One day I just looked at you and you... you changed in my eyes. I was afraid... because you are... you’re my friend.”

“No,” Albafica said resolutely, pressing his forehead to Manigoldo’s. “I want you to think of me more than as a friend.” His hands found their way into Manigoldo’s shirt, and fumblingly they touched the skin beneath. “I want you to make love to me,” he breathed on Manigoldo’s cheek. Manigoldo suddenly felt light-headed as the blood rushed from his head to another part of his body.

“Alba,” he began, as his eyes closed, and their lips touched—

_oh oh oh oh oh oh_

They both stopped and opened their eyes. In unison, they turned their heads towards the wall that separated their bedroom with the other couple’s.

_there right there ah aaah_

It was clear the moans came from the room next door.

“Oh my God,” Manigoldo exclaimed.

“Don’t... don’t mind them,” Albafica said breathlessly.

_harder harddd ahhh_

“I can’t do it with all those noises!” He opened their bedroom door, grabbed Albafica’s wrist, and began pulling him away, out from the lodge.

“Where—where are we going?”

“Somewhere we can’t hear them, and they can’t hear us!”

Still barefooted since the afternoon, under the stars they crossed the open space that led to the place by the lake with soft grass where they had sat drinking earlier. It was far enough from the lodge. Irritated, Manigoldo sat himself on the grass.

“Damn it, those two...”

“And what are we doing?” Albafica asked with a demanding voice.

“We’ll wait until they’ve had enough,” Manigoldo answered curtly, his mood destroyed.

“NO!” Albafica pushed Manigoldo to the ground and straddled him. Manigoldo gasped in surprise. “I told you I want you to make love to me!”

“I know!” Manigoldo still couldn’t really process the situation, but he understood that a heat-radiating weight was pinning his body down. “I want to, I have wanted to for so long, but—“

“I WANT YOU TO HAVE SEX WITH ME.”

“We’re out in the open!”

“I DON’T CARE. THERE’S NOBODY ELSE AROUND FOR MILES.” Albafica took off his own polo shirt and just threw it to the side. “FUCK ME.”

Manigoldo gulped to see the alabaster skin that seemed to glow under the moonlight before doubtfully trying to confirm,

“...here?”

“HERE. NOW.”

“BUT PLEASE LISTEN TO ME FIRST? I’VE GOT NO CONDOM, NO LUBE...”

“You’ve just got – to – fuck – me – raw!” Albafica took Manigoldo’s right hand and stuffed his ring, middle, and index fingers into his mouth and began sucking them. Again Manigoldo gasped, and as Albafica swirled his tongue around the fingers, Manigoldo felt the urgent need to have that pretty mouth engulfing another part of his body that was not his fingers.

Albafica let the fingers, now all wet, go.

“Is that enough?” His tone was teasing, challenging.

“Oh, god, you asked for it!” Manigoldo, face flushing, pushed Albafica so that he fell to the grass on his bare back. Manigoldo soon set to work, without meeting resistance from Albafica, who was now just lying on the grass, letting him to take control. Manigoldo helped him out of his trousers, leaving him without any fabric on his body. His skin had never felt as sensitive as now: it’s like he could discern every blade of grass that touched the back of his body, and wherever Manigoldo’s lips, tongue, and fingers made contact with his skin, it burnt. He opened up to Manigoldo, letting the man entered and filled him up, first with his fingers, then with his impatient erection. Albafica began omitting uncontrollable noises as their bodies moved rhythmically and gained pace. He whimpered, he moaned, he yelped, he breathlessly called out his lover’s name—

And his lover too sounded his name—

“Alba, you’re... ah... you’re all around me...”

It wasn’t enough. He needed him to be deeper. He tried to pull him in even more...

Before, sex for him only felt physical, rather mechanical.

Pushing in, pulling out—pushing in, pulling out—

But this time it was different. The yearning was felt on levels deeper than the surface of his body. He was burning in and out. The thirst was unbearable, and the rational part of his brain went unmoored, his fingers alternated between running through Manigoldo’s hair and clawing his back. He felt animalistic and elevated above human at the same time.

And when he finally saw stars over Manigoldo’s shoulder, he was not sure whether they were really in the sky or they just existed in his eyes.

He could hear Manigoldo let out a yelp too, as they both released their load. Albafica, still twitching in places, lied spread-eagle, as Manigoldo collapsed on top of him. They both tried to regain their breath for a full half-minute, before Manigoldo propped himself on one elbow and started stroking Albafica’s cheek with his free hand and pushed aside some strands of hair from the younger man’s damp forehead.

“Alba, are you alright? Was I too rough?”

As an answer, Albafica pulled his lover for another deep kiss with their sore lips.

“I love you,” he whispered into Manigoldo’s mouth.

The two of them looked into each other’s eyes and began to laugh heartily. Their lovemaking was so intense and the bliss they were feeling afterwards triggered laughter and tears at the same time.

“I love you too, you know,” Manigoldo said as he wiped away his own tears and then licked Albafica’s.

They lied side by side on the grass for maybe twenty minutes, Albafica’s head on Manigoldo’s chest, both saying nothing, just enjoying each other’s warmth and the serenity of the night. They finally stood up—Albafica rather wobbly at first—and wore their trousers again. Albafica’s polo shirt had accidentally landed on a wet patch of ground, so Manigoldo lent him his shirt while he himself went bare-chested. They walked back to the now quiet lodge, hand in hand. There were no more activities in the lodge. They tiptoed into their bedroom, took off their clothes again, and slipped under the blanket.

Before sleep took him away for the remainder of the night, Manigoldo kissed Albafica’s forehead.

 

Deathmask woke rather late, and as he walked out of the bedroom he shared with Aphrodite, he found Albafica and Manigoldo busy putting last night’s trash into a trash bag. Albafica was wearing Manigoldo’s shirt unbuttoned, while his own polo shirt could be seen blown softly by the wind on the clothes line outside.

“Good morning,” Deathmask greeted them.

“Good morning!” Albafica replied. “Deathmask, the bedsheets—?”

“Aspros said just take them off the bed and dumped them into the rattan basket in front of the shower. On Monday a woman from the village would come to clean up the lodge.”

“Alright.” Albafica bouncingly disappeared into his bedroom to take off the bedsheet.

Manigoldo, only in his denim trousers, poured a cup of coffee and handed it to Deathmask.

“Thank you,” Deathmask sat at the kitchen counter. “I’m sorry, last night I got carried away and I just... forgot about you two.”

“Ah, it’s alright.” Manigoldo shrugged.

“So did something happen?”

Manigoldo just grinned as an answer.

Deathmask laughed. “Well, I guess our plan worked. You two only needed some push, eh? Oh man, what is that on your neck? _A bite mark_? You will need to cover it up tomorrow if you have class.”

Manigoldo cackled nervously, touching the mark with the tips of his fingers. “Yeah, I know.”

Aphrodite left his bedroom half an hour later, already looking sharp as usual, and after a simple breakfast of what they still had from the day before, they left the lodge. Again, Deathmask drove, while Aphrodite sat next to him, while the new couple occupied the back seat. The latter two had not talked much that morning, although Aphrodite and Deathmask caught them exchanging knowing glances and smiles at each other time and again. When Aphrodite reached for the juice bottle he’d put in the holder between his seat and the driver’s seat, he could see their fingers interlocking, even though the two of them were not saying anything and were not even sitting very close to each other.

Aphrodite just smiled, satisfied, knowing for sure that the upcoming nights wouldn’t be spent by his friends just for video games.


End file.
